Richard Childress calls Tyler Reddick’s 23X1 Racing move “very unprofessional” though he remains committed to the No:8 team
Follow Us
Tyler Reddick and Richard Childless
Tyler Reddick shocked the NASCAR world just days after his first win in the NASCAR Cup series, which came in Road America, as the youngster announced that he will be moving to Denny Hamlin-Michael Jordon-owned 23X1 Racing starting from 2024. The unexpected announcement came in a Denny Hamlin press conference surprising everyone including the RCR garage.
The No:8 Richard Childress Racing Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver showed a lot of confidence and high performance this season and his consistent run had already put him in a good spot to fight for the championship. So, it’s no doubt that the RCR team was devastated by the announcement as straight after it they put out a statement on Twitter calling out the timing of it.
Now all the pressure is on team owner Richard Childress who has to figure out how he should be replacing Tyler Reddick, and whether it should be done in 2023 or 2024. Does he allow Reddick to race all the races in the 2023 cup season and how much resources does he have to spend on the driver who is sure to leave them? Now Childress has come forth addressing the situation for the first time in an interview with Fox Sports.
Find out what Richard Childress said
Richard Childress acknowledged that the biggest surprise for him was the fact that they only came to know about the move just one hour before the announcement which he finds disrespectful to each and every individual around RCR that got him where he is now. He pointed out that a lot of stuff swirls around the 18-month announcement.
“The biggest surprise was when he came to us less than one hour before the announcement. I don’t think it showed any respect for his race team or everyone who got him where he is. Less than one hour before the announcement? A lot of stuff swirls around an 18-month announcement,” Richard Childress said.
Richard Childress went on to say that he expected Reddick to approach him and say he has signed for the team and wanted to do something like a joint announcement which didn’t happen. The Hall of Fame owner added that he isn’t sad about Reddick moving to 23×1 Racing but he is sad about the fact that all the process that happened behind the scene was very unprofessional.
“The biggest thing is you should come to me respectfully and say, ‘Hey, I’ve signed, I want to do something, how do you think we should make a joint announcement?’ None of that happened. I’m not upset he’s going wherever he’s going. But the way it was handled was very unprofessional,” Richard Childress added.
Though he didn’t specify which car Childress acknowledged that Reddick will come back to race for RCR in 2023 saying “I have a contract with him in 2023. He’ll be at RCR in 2023,”. He went on to say that there is a lot of time left for next year and he is committed to the No:8 team in their pursuit of championship win this year and in 2023.
“Next year is a long time off. I committed to his team to give them everything they needed to win the championship and to go out in 2023 and give them everything they need to win the championship. I’ve committed that to our race team,” Richard Childress explained.
Do follow us on: Google News | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Stay Updated!
Justin P Joy
(4859 Articles Published)